Photos: Mom, Dad, baby live happily in 380 square feet
By David A. Keeps
A lot of families start out in small houses – just not this small. Kelly Breslin, Ryan Conder and their 9-month-old son, Thurston, live in a 380-square-foot 1950s house in Echo Park with living quarters built above the garage. The family also makes room for a mutt named Charlie. Conder and Breslin insist they prefer living small and don’t let it cramp their style. The space is arranged for maximum efficiency but maintains the vibe of an artist’s loft with a carefully edited selection of contemporary art and midcentury Danish and Italian furniture.
We recently dropped in on Breslin and Conder, owner of the men’s clothing store South Willard. It wasn’t an exhausting tour -- you’re looking at about half of their home here -- but their designs for living (and parenting) were eye-opening. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
Conder is a fan of furniture and lighting by the Italian designer Tobia Scarpa. The sofa is part of a three-piece Scarpa design, but the house had room for only two of the sections.
“When you have this small a space, every decision is critical. You can only have things that fit within the scale of this space,” Conder says. “And these are all things I have wanted for a long time.”
Textiles add color to the otherwise earthy, woodsy room. Rugs with geometric designs and folkloric motifs were purchased from Echo Park antiques dealer Peter Vanstone to cover the hardwood floor. Pendleton wool pillows on the sofa complement a Western camp blanket on the bed. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
This is the view from the front door. Artwork includes the Arthur Ou photograph above Breslin’s head.
“Everyone who comes over says, ‘Wow, it’s so cute,’ but I know they are thinking, ‘Wow, it’s so small,’ ” she says.
Adds Conder: “Even the guy who comes to fix the sink asked where the bedroom is.”
There isn’t one. Nor is there a designated nursery or a crib. Conder, 35, and Breslin, 32, practice co-sleeping. Thurston shares a queen
In the picture window, the couple hung a vintage
“I love the view of the trees,” Breslin says. “It’s the closest we can get to being in a cabin and still be in the city.” (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
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Above the bed, Conder hung a vintage Danish sisal pendant bought at the Artifac Tree thrift store in Malibu. The fish mobile is a Danish design by Flensted. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
Conder sits at the home’s second table, used as a desk and as a guest dining table. To the left, the family closet is covered with a curtain made from antique Japanese textiles.
Conder was born in a 600-square-foot Craftsman in Huntington Beach but grew up in a five-bedroom tract house. “My father made a little money, and buying that house was his biggest regret,” Conder says. “It was eventually taken back by the bank.”
Five years ago, just before he moved into his current residence as a bachelor, Conder had the opportunity to buy the house for $260,000. These days, the new father is happy to be paying $1,000 a month rent. “The American dream is to have a kid and buy a house,” he says, adding that given the real estate crash, he’s thankful he only went halfway. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
The closet is concealed behind drapes made from Japanese mosquito netting and the patched and mended indigo fabrics known as boro.
On the shelf above: a ceramic bowl by Akio Nukaga, a bronze plaque by
The solid wood and iron-legged dining table is a classic Danish design by Piet Hein and Arne Jacobsen. The chairs are Shaker-style designs by Borge Mogensen. Conder designed the stacked plywood bookcase.
The large ceramic bowl on the table was purchased at the Pasadena City College Flea Market. Conder’s pottery collection also includes the work of avant-garde ceramist Peter Voulkos and Northern California and sculptor Stan Bitters. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
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A bright red Formica counter separates the kitchen from the rest of the living space. It is decked with Bauer pottery and Heath Ceramics bowls purchased at estate sales.
To the right, a Danish dresser also serves as Thurston’s dressing table. “People tell you need all this stuff for a baby,” Breslin says. “All you really need is diapers, a place to change him and boobs.” (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
The kitchen is lighted by a more exotic take on the George Nelson Bubble lamp. This is a vintage 1960s Cocoon light by Achille Castiglioni designing for Flos.
“I buy them from Europe, where they are more plentiful,” Conder says. “I spend a lot of time on German EBay.” (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
With space at a premium, the couple stacks their cookbooks on top of the refrigerator in a wooden crate painted a brilliant blue. The top of it serves as a pedestal for a basket — one of several craft purchases they have made traveling the West in the family camper van — and an alphabet jug made by the painter and ceramist David Korty. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
Living on top of each other demands a sense of humor, but both parents agree the size of their home has also had a positive effect on their relationship. “When you get in a fight there is nowhere to go,” Conder says. “You have to deal with stuff head on.” (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
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The front door is on a pathway that leads to another house in the back of the property. For privacy, Conder hung a vintage honeycomb-pattern American quilt. The dog door was even simpler: Charlie enters through a panel of the screen door that has been cut away from the frame. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
The backyard has a fire pit that Conder built with beach rocks. A folk-art whirligig made from beer cans spins in the breeze. He bought it from a collection he discovered at Husco German Auto Service in
Finley is a stay-at-home mom. “Living here, I don’t need to have a job,” she says. “I can focus on having as many experiences as we can have as a family rather than the stress of a mortgage or having to pay someone else to raise my child.”
She and Thurston spend as much time as possible outside the house on the front porch or in the terraced yard. There is no family TV.
The exterior is decorated with hanging plants, string lights and found objects. Potted succulents and cactuses on tables additional provide greenery. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
Breslin, who grew up in a large two-story home in Grosse Pointe, Mich., says she can understand that people might find her home peculiar. “I don’t think we’re so crazy,” she says. “The way that most people structure their living situations is so the parents are most happy. But who’s to say that a kid wants to be in a room down a hall?”
To see more Southern California homes in pictures, click here.
Also check out the L.A. at Home blog (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
